An arrival
in 1999 from Borussia Dortmund to strengthen the
midfield area. A tough tackling and hard-working player,
Freund has won 21 caps for Germany, appearing in the Euro
96 tournament, but he got injured in the semi-final
against England. This was an injury that kept him out of
the Dortmund team for almost a year - missing out on the Champions League triumph, but returning to help
the club to the World Club Championship. The sort of
player others hate to play against as his tigerish
attitude and non-stop running mean that you can rarely
escape from him.

Freund
started his football career in East Germany and played for his
hometown club Brandenburg in 1989, staying for two seasons before
being transferred to Schalke 04. The move brought him success
with some solid performances in his two years there and he secured a
move to Borussia Dortmund in 1993, who were riding high in the
Bundesliga.

He featured strongly in the
"engine room" of the George Graham team, as the manager bought
him to strengthen the midfield and his ball-winning
skills have really made a difference to that area of
Tottenham's play. Sometimes get caught up in the passion
of the play and has picked up some silly yellow cards for
histrionics, which are unnecessary, but he was
instrumental in providing a platform for Tottenham to win
the Worthington Cup with his no-frills approach. In
1999-2000, it was hoped that he would become even more important as his
experience in Europe will be invaluable, but the UEFA Cup run was
short-lived.

Freund has continued
to wind up the best in the Premier League. His contribution to
the side is not obvious, but Tottenham do miss him when he is not
there. Became a cult figure by
sitting in the Lower East stand for the Arsenal game when
suspended. Always histrionic, but it can be good fun watching
him. Anyone who gets Roy Keane chasing him around the pitch has
to be worth the entrance money.

His
place in the Tottenham midfield has been in question among the fans,
but his fierce enjoyment of winning for Spurs has won them over and
his start to the 2000-2001 season was impressive. With his
shirt thrown into the crowd after the home win over Everton and
hitting the bar
against West Ham, it was hoped it wouldn't be long before he
and the crowd went ballistic when he scored !! However, it just
didn't happen for the popular German.

With
Glenn Hoddle's arrival, it appeared that Freund had dropped out of
favour - his omission from the semi-final line-up a mystery.
However, at the start of 2001-02, he was back in place and played very
well for the club up until he was put out of the game for the rest of
the season in the Worthington Cup semi first leg. His twisted
knee meant surgery on his cruciate ligaments and his recovery was
nearing completion as the 2002-03 season got underway. Steffen
only made a few appearances in that season, as he struggled to get
over another injury and Hoddle preferred to go with other players in
midfield, leaving the back four somewhat exposed at times.

It
was not that surprising that Freund was informed that he could find a
new club, although without a straight replacement, it seemed to leave
a hole in the midfield for a ball winner. There was some
bitterness in his departure, with comments flying about between him
and the club about a possible year long extension, which was allegedly
retracted by Spurs, but in the end he returned to Germany to play for
Kaiserslautern on a year long deal, before returning to England for a
short time to play for Leicester City. At the end of this deal,
Steffen retired from playing and took up a position as a football
consultant, making regular appearances on British TV and also
watching Spurs at White Hart Lane or away from home.

Latterly, Steffen took up
a role as a football analyst on TV. At the end of
2007, he was named as the assistant to the Nigerian
national team manager Berti Vogts, until the change in
management after the African Nations Cup in February
2008. Steffen then concentrated on working in the
German national set-up at youth level and gained a
reputation for working with and developing younger
players. With this in mind, he was brought back to
White Hart Lane on 11th July 2012 as part of Andre
Villas-Boas' coaching squad.

With a change in management,
Steffen was side-lined somewhat under Tim Sherwood,
then, with Mauricio Pochettino brining in his own
backroom staff, Freund was given the role of
International Technical Coordinator, which meant he was
"responsible for the development of Club players on loan
internationally, supporting the Club’s overseas football
projects, academy partnerships and, drawing on his
experience with international youth coaching, the
identification of future talent."